Nadine Kelly had completed medical school and was training for a pathology residency when she took her first yoga class ten years ago at a park district. Her mother had been newly diagnosed with breast cancer, and Nadine thought it would be a good idea to do yoga together—for her mother in dealing with cancer, and for Nadine to become more flexible and to complement her martial arts training. At that time, “it was all about the physical,” said Nadine. She did not yet know about the mental benefits of yoga, which she learned about much later when she decided to stop practicing medicine altogether.

As Nadine progressed in taekwondo, which also has mental benefits, she began to realize the mind, body, and spiritual aspects of yoga as well. Three years ago, she earned a first-degree black belt in taekwondo, which, she said, together with yoga, “coalesced into making me feel better as a whole person.”

As a doctor, Nadine had specialized in the field of cytopathology, which is the study of manifestations of disease on a cellular level. She explained, “I was doing things like fine needle exploration biopsies. When a patient needs a biopsy, and you feel the lump, you take a syringe and a needle, and you remove cells from that lump. And then you do an immediate analysis and let the physician know if it’s cancer or needs further studies. It’s an easy way to get material in the least invasive way [and] a good way to get a quick diagnosis…. Any time a patient has an operation and they remove something, it goes under the microscope.”

Working in a community hospital, Nadine “did everything” involving pathology: looking under the microscope, reading biopsy specimens, making diagnoses, doing bone marrow biopsies, and “lots of generalized kinds of things.”

Nadine completed her premed training at the University of Chicago and considered herself to be a very goal-oriented person. She expected the journey of “becoming somebody” to be painful in the beginning, but that she would “pay her dues,” which meant get through residency and start practicing medicine, and then things would get better. “I did get through it,” said Nadine. “I got to year one, and again I was the new kid on the block. [But] this was the end. There was no more next step. It was practice.”

At first Nadine enjoyed her work. “I am a very detail-oriented person,” she said. “I like to take my time, and I like things to make sense. At first I had a lot of time to read and analyze things. Then, the face of pathology began to change.” Transcribers, who type up doctors’ reports, were eliminated and doctors were expected to do the transcriptions themselves. In addition, the doctors’ caseloads increased. Nadine said, “Because I am a thinker and my integrity means so much, I didn’t respect myself very much. It felt very bleak. I had nothing to look forward to…. At a certain point the quality of my life, my integrity, and self-respect mattered more to me than a paycheck. I wanted to be fulfilled in my work. I wanted to make a difference.”

The increased workload also meant that Nadine was spending less and less time with her family (she has a husband and two daughters, now ages 13 and 16). “I was less available to my family, not just physically but emotionally,” she says. “I was not myself any more. Something had to change.”

After seven years, Nadine said she had reached rock bottom when she decided to stop practicing pathology for good. She went to her local yoga studio, Reflections Yoga in Homewood, Illinois, and told the director she was ready for a deeper practice of yoga and wanted to explore the mental and spiritual aspects. Reflections was starting a 200-hour teacher training program, and Nadine signed up for it. “Halfway through,” she said, “a light came on. This is what I am meant to do. I can apply my medical training to the field of yoga.”

Next, Nadine took a 95-hour children’s specialty certification training with Mira Binzen of Global Family Yoga. Nadine taught yoga to children up until a year ago, and now teaches a weekly class for teens, but feels her calling is teaching yoga to seniors, for whom she has a natural affinity. She is a first-generation Haitian-American and explained that the Haitian culture instills a strong work ethic, close family ties, and respect for elders. She already felt a passion for helping those who wanted to improve their health. And she was especially interested in nontraditional yoga, such as chair yoga and gentle yoga, for people who wanted to benefit from the practice of yoga but couldn’t get down on the mat.

In August 2012, Nadine took an Aqua Kriya yoga certification course with Camilla Nair to teach yoga in a pool, which she described as “a wonderful modality to bring yoga to those unable to do traditional yoga.” She gave the example of a man who uses a wheelchair who participates in her aqua yoga class. He wasn’t strong enough to put his foot against the wall of the pool, as the other students were doing, to get into hand-to-toe pose. Using a “noodle” (Styrofoam log), he was able to support his leg and bring his foot to the wall.

Nadine explained, “Pathology demanded that you have a good understanding of the body. Instead of understanding what was wrong, you had to understand what was right. I liked having to understand and figure things out. I liked concepts.” Now she approaches yoga the same way, as it applies to the individual, to maximize the students’ individual physical and mental well-being. “I love it,” said Nadine. “I feel so fulfilled.”

The students know they are in especially good hands regarding their back pain, high blood pressure, arthritis, osteoporosis, diabetes, stress, and other ailments. Nadine encourages students to ask questions or to contact her outside of class.

“I do the best I can to make sure everybody is included and that I am honoring each person where they are,” said Nadine. “The joy and the passion I feel in what I am doing is very evident…. When I am teaching, I am present and it’s right. Now I am making a difference and helping my community, and I am fulfilling my dharma [right path].”

All Things Nadine

Birthplace: Chicago

Astrological sun sign: Cancer

Favorite pose: These days (it changes all the time) I like wide leg standing forward fold [prasarita padottanasana].

Least favorite pose: Handstand

Favorite snack: French fries (“I know, I’m working on it!”)

Favorite book: The Artist’s Way, by Julia Cameron

Currently reading; I am always reading multiple things. At this point it’s Fire of Love by Aadil Palkhivala, a book for yoga teachers and the philosophy of how to teach; A Chair for Yoga, an Iyengar yoga–based book by Eyal Shifroni; and Mockingjay, the third book in The Hunger Games trilogy, by Suzanne Collins.

Spare time activity: Spending time with my family, snuggling with my dogs on the couch, reading a good book, listening to music [rock], playing my drums [she’s taking lessons], practicing taekwondo. For my own mental health, I try to fit in, where I can, things that make me happy.

Favorite quote: “Start where you are. Use what you have. Do what you can.”—Arthur Ashe

More about Nadine: She is the oldest of three girls. One sister is a lawyer and yoga practitioner living in California. The other lives in Houston and has a PhD in African-American studies. Nadine’s mother is now a 15-year cancer survivor.

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Nadine Kelly teaches chair yoga at Bloom Township Center in Chicago Heights and Health & Wellness Center in Homewood; yoga and chair yoga for osteoporosis at South Holland Community Center; yoga for cancer survivors at Mokena Cancer Support Center; Aqua yoga at St. James Health & Wellness Center in Chicago Heights; and chair yoga at Sunrise Senior Living and Waterford Estates, two assisted living centers in Chicago’s south suburbs. Nadine’s website is yogimd.net.

Sharon Steffensen is the editor and publisher of Yoga Chicago magazine. She has been teaching yoga since 1975.

5 Comments

Brenda Wallace
on 07/21/2014 at 7:41 am

Loved the article and love the instructor. Nadine is a good person with a great heart who truly enjoys teaching yoga. We are grateful to her and for her.

SOOO awesome to find this article on Nadine!! I just had the pleasure of meeting her at an event and even though I haven’t taken a yoga class from her (yet!), I can just tell that she has such compassion for her students and is a real cheerleader for all of them – wherever they may be on their own journey with yoga. She is making a HUGE contribution to the health & well being – on ALL levels (physical/mental/spiritual) of the senior population, who deserve all of the benefits that yoga can give them. The faces of aging (or any person experiencing a temporary physical limitation; i.e. using crutches, rheumatoid arthritis, etc) need to know that yoga is NOT limited to the few who do the poses “perfectly”…….yoga’s benefits are FAR more reaching than that, and with the type of fast paced, stressed out world we live in nowadays….there isn’t a body, at any age, that won’t benefit from “hitting the mat.” And with Nadine…..you have a teacher that has found her true calling in life, and thus approaches every student and every class, with her heart wide open. What more could a student ask for??!!

I don’t know how I found this article but I did. I am currently a student’s of Nadine’s and once you meet her you will find that the article matches her completely. I did not know she was trained as a Medical doctor, but it explains her through knowledge of the human body when you in her class. She never pushes, but works with you and tries to bring you to a point of “calm” within yourself.

Thank you Nadine, and I truly loved reading about you and your dear family.